One-Shot: Talk of the Town
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: Little shot about Luke discovering Rory's New Yorker piece. Enjoy!


**One-Shot: Talk of the Town**

Luke Danes finished delivering the last batch on hand of pancakes to his customers during the morning rush at his Diner. Calling to Caesar to hold down the fort at the counter for just a moment, he slipped into the back storeroom to restock on some more pancake batter. Retrieving the packaging, his eyes paused for just a moment on the brown thumbtack board. Mostly pictures hung there. A shot of his daughter April, as he was dropping her off in her first dorm room at MIT. A picture of his girlfriend and partner, Lorelai Gilmore, standing in front of her Dragonfly Inn; Luke pressed a quick kiss to it. Yet another picture of Lorelai's grown daughter, Rory. She was finding work as a journalist in New York, and the shot here was of her with a beaming smile and striking a pose in front of the _New York Times_ building, taken one Christmas when Luke and Lorelai had gone up to visit her. Luke ran a finger down the picture with a soft smile. Rory was like a daughter to him.

The door to the storage room suddenly opened and Kirk, Stars Hollow's resident entrepreneur, appeared. Luke frowned. "Kirk, I thought I told you no one but staff is allowed back here..."

"I couldn't find you, so Caesar sent me back," Kirk explained. He held up the box in his hand: "Mail call!"

Luke growled as he accepted the package. "Remind me to fire Caesar..." he muttered half to himself, though he was only being facetious.

"It's a subscription shipment," Kirk offered up, before turning on his heel and marching up out of the storeroom.

Luke heaved the box onto a countertop. The Diner had plenty of publications it subscribed to and kept stock of. _Coffee News_ and of course _The New York Times_ were the most standard fare, although the latter had fallen prey to a couple of Trumptarian retards ripping copies up and scrawling #FakeNews across the front, complete with a hashtag.

As Luke made to open the box, he frowned when he saw the seal had already been broken. "Hey, Kirk..." But the young man was already gone. Broken seals on Luke's mail deliveries had happened before. Kirk had always had a reputation for being nosy. And even though tampering with the mail was technically a federal offense, because it was Kirk, Luke always let it slide. Though why, even he didn't know.

Luke opened the box to see that it was the latest monthly batch of _The New Yorker_. Ah, good! A few regulars had asked when the next edition would come through. Taking the top copy off the stack, Luke lazily leafed through it, then by chance flipped it over to the back cover, to check if the barcode was there.

He nearly dropped the magazine. A picture of his surrogate daughter was staring back at him. Luke actually recognized the shot. It was a recent headshot - somewhere between professional and casual - that Rory had asked him and Lorelai to help capture when she was home once a year or so ago.

Accompanying Rory's picture was the Talk of the Town piece... with her as the byline.

Rory had been published by a national magazine!

"CAESAR! GET DOWN HERE!" Luke called.

Caesar scrambled down, looking a little flustered. "I'm sorry, boss, I know I'm not supposed to send Kirk back here, but he was pestering me, and..."

"Never mind that!" Luke beamed and thrust the magazine between them. "Look at this!"

Caesar blinked and peered closer. "Hey, look at that, it's Rory!" He gasped. "Rory's written a Talk of the Town piece!"

"I know!" Luke flashed him a million-watt grin. "You know the new menus you've been designing?"

Caesar nodded.

"I want you to make copies of this piece and put them on the back sleeve of every single one!" Luke said, his voice showing every amount of eager seriousness. Even so, Caesar smirked knowingly.

"Looks like someone's a _papi orgulloso_..."

"You're damn right I'm a _papi orgulloso_!" Luke puffed out his chest with pride. Caesar took the first copy up to begin making duplicates. "Oh!" Luke handed him a second copy. "And on your break, could you run one over to Lorelai at the Inn?"

Caesar grinned. "You got it, boss."

Before bringing up the pancake batter, Luke ripped the Talk of the Town page off one magazine and thumbtacked it onto the brown board next to the picture of Rory.

* * *

Months later, on a cold winter's day, Rory Gilmore was back in town. Her Talk of the Town piece had landed her a book writing deal with the article's subject, Naomi Shropshire, and she was about to jet off to London to begin collaborations for the work. However, there was time for one last breakfast at _Luke's_ with her mother before the young journalist left. As the girls sat down, Luke came over with his pen in hand.

"I have something for you both to see... new menus!" He flashed one to each of his girls.

"Very nice!" Rory grinned.

"Notice anything?" Luke prodded.

Rory peered closer and frowned slightly. "No..."

"Turn it over," Luke prompted, barely able to keep the secret at bay.

Rory flipped to the back page and stared. " That's... my _New Yorker_ piece... Wow..." She glanced at her mother for an explanation.

Lorelai just grinned and gave jazz hands. "Super proud!" she mouthed, in such a fan-girlish way, there might as well have been a hashtag next to it.

"For everyone to read!" Luke beamed. "Now: what can I get you?"

"Coffee," Lorelai gave him a loving grin. As if that was a question!

Rory pulled a slip of paper from her purse. "Oh, I have a list... to go."

"You got it!" Luke smiled and headed for the counter. Once he was gone, Rory flashed the rear of the menu in her mother's direction, her face in flattered disbelief. It was as if she was discovering for the first time how nice guys could actually be. "That's my piece! _Wrapped in plastic_ ," she processed, saying the last in a very mangled Southern accent.

Lorelai grinned. "Well, you knew that when Luke moved in with me, he'd turn weird eventually," she gently reminded her daughter.


End file.
